Immediate issues should be approached with a sense of purpose and urgency, says EAM Jaishankar
Meeting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the ASEAN-related Foreign Ministers’ Meetings in Vientiane, Lao PDR on Thursday (July 25, 2024), India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar called for full respect for the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and earlier agreements.
 
The state of the border will be reflected on the state of India-China ties, EAM Jaishankar asserted as he pointed out that immediate issues must be approached with a sense of purpose and urgency. During their talks, the two Ministers agreed on the need to give strong guidance to complete the disengagement process along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh.
 
"Met with CPC Politburo member and FM Wang Yi in Vientiane today.  Continued our ongoing discussions about our bilateral relationship. The state of the border will necessarily be reflected on the state of our ties. 
 
Agreed on the need to give strong guidance to complete the disengagement process. Must ensure full respect for the LAC and past agreements. 
 
It is in our mutual interest to stabilize our ties. We should approach the immediate issues with a sense of purpose and urgency," EAM Jaishankar posted on X, formerly Twitter. 
 
According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the meeting gave the two Ministers an opportunity to review the situation since their last meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit at Astana on July 4, 2024. 
 
Their talks focussed on finding an early resolution of the remaining issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to stabilize and rebuild bilateral relations. Both Ministers agreed on the need to work with purpose and urgency to achieve complete disengagement at the earliest, the MEA said.
 
"Peace and tranquillity on the borders and respect for LAC are essential for normalcy in bilateral relations. Both sides must fully abide by relevant bilateral agreements, protocols, and understandings reached between the two Governments in the past. EAM stressed the importance of the three mutuals - mutual respect, mutual interest and mutual sensitivity - to our ties," the MEA stated. 
 
As discussed earlier, both sides will hold an early meeting of the Working Mechanism on Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) to take the discussions forward, the MEA added. The two Ministers also exchanged views on the global and regional situation.
 
In June 2020, a tense standoff between Indian and Chinese troops in Eastern Ladakh had led to a violent face-off in the Galwan Valley. Twenty Indian soldiers had lost their lives. A large number of Chinese troops were also killed though China has never officially confirmed the actual number of deaths.
 
Multiple rounds of talks at the military and diplomatic levels since then have led to a disengagement at several places. The last few rounds of Corps Commander-level talks have, however, seen no announcement of any fresh disengagement along the remaining friction points along LAC in the Western Sector in the Eastern Ladakh region.
 
The 21st round of India-China Corps Commander Level Meeting was held at the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point on February 19, 2024. "The discussions built on the previous rounds, seeking complete disengagement in the remaining areas along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh as an essential basis for restoration of peace and tranquillity in the India-China border areas,” India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.
 
A month later, meeting in Beijing for the 29th edition of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) on March 27, 2024, senior officials from both sides also talked about resolving the remaining issues along the LAC. They also agreed to maintain regular contact through diplomatic and military channels.
 
More recently, the Chinese government's love to rename places in Arunachal Pradesh evoked a strong reaction from India.
 
On April 2, 2024, India firmly rejected "senseless attempts" to rename places in Arunachal Pradesh, reiterating that the state was an "integral and inalienable part of India ".
 
Responding to media queries on renaming places in Arunachal Pradesh by China, MEA Official Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said assigning invented names will not alter the reality.
 
The MEA statement came after the Chinese Ministry for Civil Affairs released the latest list of standardised geographical names in Zangnan, the Chinese term for Arunachal Pradesh, as per a report by the state-run Global Times. 
 
"China has persisted with its senseless attempts to rename places in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. We firmly reject such attempts. Assigning invented names will not alter the reality that Arunachal Pradesh is, has been, and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India," Jaiswal said.
 
This was the fourth list of standardised names of places in Zangnan, as China describes Arunachal Pradesh, released since 2017. This was also the third time China raked up the issue of Arunachal Pradesh after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the state on March 9, 2024.